This invention relates to medical procedures and apparatus, and more particularly to medical procedures and apparatus that employ catheters to reach remote locations in a patient's body.
Certain catheter-based medical procedures may benefit from first establishing reference point apparatus at a remote location in the patient's body. Then an actual procedure can be performed in relation to the reference point apparatus. Examples of what is being referred to are procedures that involve crossing the atrial septum by piercing the septum from the right atrium to the left atrium such as in an ablation procedure, closing a patent foramen ovale (“PFO”), and any other left atrial procedure. If this could be done starting from stable and secure reference apparatus already in place at a desired location in the right atrium, the penetration of the septum could be made more precise, safer, and easier. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide such reference apparatus that can be delivered and deployed via a catheter, and which then provides a stable and secure “platform” from which one or more further procedures can be carried out.